• Earthquakes and Structures
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• v.13 no.2
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• pp.165-176
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• 2017

Multi-Axial Testing System (MATS) is a 6-DOF loading system located at National Center for Research on Earthquake Engineering (NCREE) in Taiwan for advanced seismic testing of structural components or sub-assemblages. MATS was designed and constructed for a large variety of structural testing, especially for the specimens that require to be subjected to vertical and longitudinal loading simultaneously, such as reinforced concrete columns and lead rubber bearings. Functionally, MATS consists of a high strength self-reacting frame, a rigid platen, and a large number of servo-hydraulic actuators. The high strength self-reacting frame is composed of two post-tensioned A-shape reinforced concrete frames interconnected by a steel-and-concrete composite cross beam and a reinforced concrete reacting base. The specimen can be anchored between the top cross beam and the bottom rigid platen within a 5-meter high and 3.25-meter wide clear space. In addition to the longitudinal horizontal actuators that can be installed for various configurations, a total number of 13 servo-hydraulic actuators are connected to the rigid platen. Degree-of-freedom control of the rigid platen can be achieved by driving these actuators commanded by a digital controller. The specification and information of MATS in detail are described in this paper, providing the users with a technical point of view on the design, application, and limitation of MATS. Finally, future potential application employing advanced experimental technology is also presented in this paper.

• International Journal of High-Rise Buildings
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• v.7 no.4
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• pp.375-387
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• 2018

This paper presents a review on progressive collapse mechanism of steel framed buildings exposed to fire. The influence of load ratios, strength of structural members (beam, column, slab, connection), fire scenarios, bracing systems, fire protections on the collapse mode and collapse time of structures is comprehensively reviewed. It is found that the key influencing factors include load ratio, fire scenario, bracing layout and fire protection. The application of strong beams, high load ratios, multi-compartment fires will lead to global downward collapse which is undesirable. The catenary action in beams and tensile membrane action in slabs contribute to the enhancement of structural collapse resistance, leading to a ductile collapse mechanism. It is recommended to increase the reinforcement ratio in the sagging and hogging region of slabs to not only enhance the tensile membrane action in the slab, but to prevent the failure of beam-to-column connections. It is also found that a frame may collapse in the cooling phase of compartment fires or under travelling fires. This is because that the steel members may experience maximum temperatures and maximum displacements under these two fire scenarios. An edge bay fire is more prone to induce the collapse of structures than a central bay fire. The progressive collapse of buildings can be effectively prevented by using bracing systems and fire protections. A combination of horizontal and vertical bracing systems as well as increasing the strength and stiffness of bracing members is recommended to enhance the collapse resistance. A protected frame dose not collapse immediately after the local failure but experiences a relatively long withstanding period of at least 60 mins. It is suggested to use three-dimensional models for accurate predictions of whether, when and how a structure collapses under various fire scenarios.

• Steel and Composite Structures
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• v.31 no.1
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• pp.99-112
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• 2019

Semi-rigid joints have been widely studied in literature in recent decades because they affect greatly the structural response of frames. In literature, the behavior of semi-rigid joints is commonly assumed to be identical under positive and negative moments which are obviously incorrect in many cases where joint details such as bolt arrangement or placement of haunch are vertically asymmetrical. This paper evaluates two common types of steel frames with asymmetrical beam-to-column joints by Direct Analysis allowing for plasticity. A refined design method of steel frames using a proposed simple forth order curved-quartic element with an integrated joint model allowing for asymmetrical geometric joint properties is presented. Furthermore, the ultimate behavior of six types of asymmetrical end-plate connections under positive and negative moment is examined by the Finite Element Method (FEM). The FEM results are further applied to the proposed design method with the curved-quartic element for Direct Analysis of two types of steel frames under dominant gravity or wind load. The ultimate frame behavior under the two different scenarios are examined with respect to their failure modes and considerably different structural performances of the frames were observed when compared with the identical frames designed with the traditional method where symmetrical joints characteristics were assumed. The finding of this research contributes to the design of steel frames as their asymmetrical beam-to-column joints lead to different frame behavior when under positive and negative moment and this aspect should be incorporated in the design and analysis of steel frames. This consideration of asymmetrical joint behavior is recommended to be highlighted in future design codes.

• Current Photovoltaic Research
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• v.10 no.2
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• pp.56-61
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• 2022

Recently, the expansion of the domestic solar market due to the promotion of eco-friendly and alternative energy-related policies is promising, and it is expected to lead the high-efficiency/high-power module market based on M10 or larger cells to reduce LCOE, 540-560W, M12 based on M10 cells Compared to the existing technology with an output of 650-700W based on cells, it is necessary to secure competitiveness through the development of modules with 600W based on M10 cells and 750W based on M12 cells. For the development of high efficiency/high-power n-type bifacial, it is necessary to secure a lightweight technology and structure due to the increase in weight of the glass to glass module according to the large area of the module. Since the mechanical strength characteristics according to the large area and high weight of the module are very important, design values such as a frame of a new structure that can withstand the mechanical load of the Mechanical Load Test and the location of the mounting hole are required. In this study, a structural analysis design model was introduced to secure mechanical reliability according to the enlargement of the module area, and the design model was verified through the mechanical load test of the actual product. It can be used as a design model to secure the mechanical reliability required for PV modules by variables such as module area, frame shape, and the location and quantity of mounting holes of the structural analysis model verified. A relationship of output drop can be obtained.

• Structural Engineering and Mechanics
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.615-636
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• 2000

Some elevated water tanks have failed due to torsional vibrations in past earthquakes. The overall axisymmetric structural geometry and mass distribution of such structures may leave only a small accidental eccentricity between centre of stiffness and centre of mass. Such a small accidental eccentricity is not expected to cause a torsional failure. This paper studies the possibility of amplified torsional behaviour of elevated water tanks due to such small accidental eccentricity in the elastic as well as inelastic range; using two simple idealized systems with two coupled lateral-torsional degrees of freedom. The systems are capable of retaining the characteristics of two extreme categories of water tanks namely, a) tanks on staging with less number of columns and panels and b) tanks on staging with large number of columns and panels. The study shows that the presence of a small eccentricity may lead to large displacement of the staging edge in the elastic range, if the torsional-to-lateral time period ratio $({\tau})$ of the elevated tanks lies within a critical range of 0.7< ${\tau}$ <1.25. Inelastic behaviour study reveals that such excessive displacement in some of the reinforced concrete staging elements may cause unsymmetric yielding. This may lead to progressive strength deterioration through successive yielding in same elements under cyclic loading during earthquakes. Such localized strength drop progressively develop large strength eccentricity resulting in large localized inelastic displacement and ductility demand, leading to failure. So, elevated water tanks should have ${\tau}$ outside the said critical range to avoid amplified torsional response. The tanks supported on staging with less number of columns and panels are found to have greater torsional vulnerability. Tanks located near faults seem to have torsional vulnerability for large ${\tau}$.

• Journal of Positioning, Navigation, and Timing
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• v.11 no.4
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• pp.287-295
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• 2022

The GNSS coordinate time series is used as important data for geophysical analysis such as terrestrial reference frame establishment, crustal deformation, Earth orientation parameter estimation, etc. However, various factors may cause discontinuity in the coordinate time series, which may lead to errors in the interpretation. In this paper, we describe the discontinuity in the coordinate time series due to the equipment replacement for domestic GNSS stations and discuss the change in movement magnitude and velocity vector difference in each direction before and after discontinuity correction. To do this, we used three years (2017-2019) of data from 40 GNSS stations. The average magnitude of the velocity vector in the north-south, east-west, and vertical directions before correction is -12.9±1.5, 28.0±1.9, and 4.2±7.6 mm/yr, respectively. After correction, the average moving speed in each direction was -13.0±1.0, 28.2±0.8, and 0.7±2.1 mm/yr, respectively. The average magnitudes of the horizontal GNSS velocity vectors before and after discontinuous correction was similar, but the deviation in movement size of stations decreased after correction. After equipment replacement, the change in the vertical movement occurred more than the horizontal movement variation. Moreover, the change in the magnitude of movement in each direction may also cause a change in the velocity vector, which may lead to errors in geophysical analysis.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Heat Treatment
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• v.26 no.5
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• pp.225-232
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• 2013

The influence of aging treatment, addition elements and rolling reduction ratio on the microstructure, mechanical, electrical and bendability properties of Cu-Ni-Si-P-x (x = Fe, Sn, Zn) alloys for connector material application was investigated. SEM/EDS analysis exhibited that Ni2-Si precipitates with a size of 20~100 nm were distributed in grains. Fe, Sn, Zn elemnets in Cu-Ni-Si-P alloy imporved the mechanical strength but it was not favor in increasing of electrical conductivity. As higher final rolling reduction ratio, the strength and electrical conductivity is increased after aging treatment, but it indicated excellent bendability. Especially, Cu-2Ni-0.4Si-0.5Sn-0.1Fe-0.03P alloy show the tensile strength value of 700MPa and the electrical conductivity was observed to reach a maximum of 40%IACS. It is optimal for lead frame and connector.

• The Journal of the Acoustical Society of Korea
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• v.34 no.5
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• pp.403-409
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• 2015

In this paper, we propose Packet Loss Concealment (PLC) method using adaptive signal scale estimation for performance improvement of G.711 PLC. The conventional method controls a gain using 20 % attenuation factor when continuous loss occurs. However, this method lead to deterioration because that don't consider the change of signal. So, we propose gain control by adaptive signal scale estimation through before and after frame information using Least Mean Square (LMS) predictor. Performance evaluation of proposed algorithm is presented through Perceptual Evaluation of Speech Quality (PESQ) evaulation.

• Journal of the Korean Society for Precision Engineering
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• v.26 no.8
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• pp.47-54
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• 2009

In this study, a simple and effective method was proposed to minimize electrolytic corrosion on the workpiece during ED-drilling using water as a working fluid. The adhesion of a cover plate onto the surface of the workpiece was greatly effective for suppressing electrolytic corrosion during ED-drilling. The experiment revealed that the adhesion of the cover plate prevented corrosion without causing significant changes in machining characteristics. Using the machining method proposed in this paper, electrolytic-corrosion-free holes can be machined without change in the machinery system. By using corrosion-free hole as a start hole for wire EDM, a lead frame die with high quality was fabricated successfully.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.15 no.4
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• pp.767-771
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• 2005

Expression in yeast may prove more amenable to generating large amounts of viral antigens for a vaccine candidate. We, therefore, cloned the gene encoding the Hepatitis C virus (HCV) structural proteins (C-El-E2, c740) fused in-frame with, and immediately 3' to, the chicken-lysozyme signal peptide (C-SIG) gene and under the control of the yeast glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase gene promoter. In yeast, the HCV structural proteins were expressed in two different forms: a processed and a nonprocessed aggregated form. Biophysical characterization by sucrose linear gradient centrifugation revealed that both forms were present in the same fractions with a buoyant density of 1.127-1.176 g/$cm^3$. These findings suggest that the efficient synthesis of HCV structural proteins in yeast may be an important tool to study virus assembly and may lead to the development of an HCV vaccine.